Zemen Bank floated shares with a mark-up of 25pc, worth close to 16 million Br, to the public on Wednesday, September 1, 2010, to pay up the rest of its 150 million Br in subscribed capital before its next shareholders' meeting on October 2.

The bank had continuously run reminders in local newspapers to shareholders who had not yet finished paying for the shares they had signed up for. It also gave existing shareholders the opportunity to buy more shares until August 31.

Most of the shares, which were made available to the public on Wednesday, September 1, have been sold to people who had seen the advertisements for existing members and were put on a waiting list after inquiring about them.

"Most of the shares that have been floated have been sold, with only a few remaining," Ermias Eshetu, vice president of Marketing at Zemen, told Fortune.

Following the launch of the first phase of its centralised, online, real-time, electronic (CORE) banking solutions on August 2, 2010, the bank has been taking steps to remain on the forefront of available banking technology.

Zemen Bank, one of the youngest banks in the industry, with only close to two years in the sector, has installed many technological features to provide its customers with as much remote access as possible.

It is currently evaluating the technical proposals of vendors for the supply of interactive voice recognition (IVR), short message service (SMS), and mobile banking technology. The bank expects to pick one of the five international companies that had responded to its tender floated in June 2010, in two weeks' time.

Zemen Bank, which follows a one-branch model with multiple service points, announced an interest rate of 4.5pc on savings, more than 0.5 percentage points above the minimum set by the NBE, following its (unaudited) record net profit of around 46 million Br in the previous fiscal year.

The current number of shareholders, 2,800, is expected to increase, once the sale of all of the shares that have been floated are finalised and announced during the shareholders' meeting. The audit and the performance report of the bank are expected to be presented on the same day.

Zemen Bank, which has been taking steps to offer its customers the latest in available banking technology, are currently evaluating proposals from IVR, SMS, and mobile banking vendors.